L’Oréal announced Martha Crawford is joining L’Oréal as senior vice president in charge of advanced research and the scientific directorate, and member of the research and innovation (R&I) management committee. Crawford will also be responsible for developing the scientific strategies in support of L’Oréal’s ambitious sustainable innovation goals set forth by the company’s "Sharing Beauty With All" CSR program. Crawford will take up her new position on October 1, 2014.

Laurent Attal, executive vice president of R&I at L’Oréal, commented: “We are delighted to welcome Martha Crawford whose unique career, strong scientific expertise and profound knowledge of environmental and societal issues will further enable the group to pursue its long-standing investment in cutting-edge science and further develop its commitment to sustainable innovation.”

After graduating from the University of Arizona in 1989 with a B.S. in ecology and evolutionary biology, Crawford began her career in Washington with then-Senator Al Gore, where she helped develop biodiversity protection policies. In 1990, she moved to Micronesia and took on the role of advisor to the head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Authority of the Marshall Islands. As a National Science Foundation Fellow, she returned to the U.S. to complete her PhD in environmental engineering at Harvard in 1997.

After obtaining her MBA from the Collège des Ingénieurs in Paris in 1998, Crawford joined the OECD’s environmental performance department, where she became principal administrator a few years later. In 2007, she became vice president for group research & development at Air Liquide. In 2011, Crawford joined Areva, a leading company in nuclear energy, as senior executive vice president for research & innovation.